National Assembly workers protest over unpaid salaries

File Photo: National Assembly staff protesting in the legislative lobby in Abuja

STAFF of the National Assembly are currently protesting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory to demand payment of unpaid wages and promotion due to their members.

The protesting workers, under the umbrella of Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) in their hundreds, gathered at the lobby of the National Assembly demanding the management to address their grievances.

They carried placards with various inscriptions, as they threatened to scuttle plenary sessions of both the houses of Senate and Representatives.

When the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, arrived at the Assembly, he was prevented from gaining entrance into the legislative chambers.

Members of the association had last week during their congress resolved to picket the premises of the federal legislature from Tuesday to Thursday to press their demands on the Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure (CONLESS).

PASAN, released a statement after its Congress that the Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara, in line with their statutory mandate, should take urgent steps to nominate members from the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC).

They said all pending staff promotions and conversion letters should be released with their arrears duly paid, while the 2018 promotion eligibility list be released as well as the results of the promotion exams conducted on or before December 31 this year.

“After due deliberations on the above crucial issues, Congress resolved that in view of management’s apparent continued disregard and unwillingness to address all the above listed issues, the union ‎in compliance with the laws of industrial dispute is hereby demanding the full implementation of the above listed grievances by management within the next two weeks from today.

“Failure to implement the above resolutions on the deadline, which is 13 December 2018, the union will have no option than to embark on an indefinite strike action from the 14th December 2018,” the statement read.

Senators and members of the House of Representatives were booed as they arrived for sitting.

The shout of “No alert, no sitting, no alert no sitting” filled the hall as the aggrieved workers denied the lawmakers entry into the chambers.

Senators Adamu Aliero, Ahmed Babba Kaita, Kabiru Marafa and Ibrahim Gobir were prevented from entering the chambers, while members of the House of Representatives that were prevented from entry included Ahmed Idris and Yunus Ustaz Abubakar.

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Amos Abba is a journalist with the International Center for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, who believes that courageous investigative reporting is the key to social justice and accountability in the society.